Editorial: Here Lies 2017

Way back in 2016, when all of our favorite celebrities were dying and the presidency was being handed over to a 70-year-old child who spends way too much time eating Big Macs and watching Fox News, it often felt as though the world had run amok—that the forces that had kept order in the universe transformed from easygoing mogwai to untamed, havoc-wreaking gremlin.

Suddenly, Buddy the Elf from Elf mutated into that demon from Krampus; the charitable, if slightly unhinged, George Bailey decided to turn heel as the sinister Hans Gruber; and Tim Allen decided to leave Santa dead in the snow rather than don his rather large pants as clearly stated in a certain clause.

It was a rough year and we quickly turned the page to 2017, when we were met with a fresh barrage of tragedies and a seemingly accelerated array of demoralizing moments courtesy of our political leaders from both parties, previously fawned-over celebrities and average ignorant citizens. New victims now come forward everyday, revealing men in power as abusers, rapists and sexual deviants. Child abusers are free to run for office as an admitted sexual predator wields power in the White House.

While all might seem grim, there is a silver lining. All of these terrible atrocities exposed to the light of day could very well signal a cultural shift to a world where perpetrators of heinous acts are no longer protected by a deep well of assistants, handlers and fixers. The brand new year of 2018 could continue the trend of comeuppance for the most vile inhabitants of the highest offices and most opulent lifestyles.

Thinking about that possibility is enough to bring a smile to one’s face. It’s enough to look at 2018, 2019 and beyond, not as a dire conclusion, but a hopeful future.

Just stay away from Twitter. For on that platform you can still bear witness to a relic from the past—a man in the public eye with unchallenged authority who openly, casually, daily bares his crude, hostile, oblivious nature and still remains employed.